About 170,000 Oregonians used the state or Oregon's health
insurance exchange to enroll in health insurance effective Jan. 1,
according to numbers released Tuesday.

A joint release
from the Oregon Health Authority and Cover Oregon stressed that
enrollment proceeded despite problems with the health exchange website
that forced consumers to submit paper applications to be processed by an army of temporary hires.

"More than 55,000
people shopped and purchased a private plan or enrolled in the Oregon
Health Plan through Cover Oregon. Of those, about 20,000 people gained
private coverage and more than 35,000 joined the Oregon Health Plan.
Additionally, more than 114,500 people enrolled directly in the Oregon
Health Plan through the Oregon Health Authority."

The release
included comments from Gov. John Kitzhaber. “There are about
170,000 Oregonians in every part of our state who are starting the New
Year with comprehensive health care coverage. This shows that in Oregon
we will not let barriers become blockades,” he said, according to the release.

Not
all the news is great. About half of those who applied for coverage
effective Jan 1 were turned away because their applications were not
fully filled out, state officials have said. Instead, they'll be processed for insurance effective Feb. 1. Meanwhile, others remain in the dark
over whether they've been enrolled.

Most of the Oregon
Health Plan enrollment was accomplished by offering a "fast-track"
process to people already enrolled in SNAP, or food stamps. Cover Oregon
was initially intended to handle all enrollment of the Oregon Health
Plan, but in August state officials set up the new process to bypass the
exchange.